Manifolding attachment for typewriters



jui 22, 1924. 1 1,502,177

M. L. COSSITT MANIFOLDING ATTACHMENT FOR TYPEWRITERS Filed Aug. 21 1 9235 Sheets-Sheet 1 M. L. COSSITT MANI FOLDING ATTACHMENT FOR TYPEWRITERSFiled Aug. 21. 1923 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 figjj,

M. L. COSSITT MANIFOLDING ATTACHMENT FOR TYPEWRITERS Jui 22 1924.1502,177

Filed Aug. 21. 1923 s Sheets-Sheet 5 ilmlwm' M 4 WI] o 7-5 liliuulllt.

Patented July 22, 1924..

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MALCOLM L. COSSITT, OF OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOR T MANIFOLD ill"SIGNS CORPORATION, OF CARSON- CITY, NEVADA, A CORPORATION OF NEVA.

MANIFOLDING ATTACHMENT 'FGR T'YPEWRITEBS.

Application filed August 21, 1923. Serial No. 658,%0.

To all whom it may concern: I

Be it known that I, MALCOLM L. Cossrrr, a citizen of the United States,residing at Oakland, in the county of Alameda and State of California,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in ManifoldingAttachments for Typewriters, of which the following is a specification.

M invention relates to that class of mani- 1 folding attachments for'typewriters in which a plurality of manifolding members are carried bymovable arms mounted on the machine and are adapted, to be placed in andremoved from functional position in the line of type impact.

One of the objects of my invention is to provide simple and effectivemeans for selectively operating the carrying arms whereby one or more ofthe manifolding members may be used as required.

Another object is to provide means for adjusting the position of thepaper-holding fingers to avoid interference with the manifolding memberswhen the latter are being moved to functional position. Other objectsare to improve the mounting of the movable arms, to provide simple meansfor holding said arms at the limits of their movement both in and out ofposition, and

to provide for oscillating the manifolding members when in functionalposition, to utilize their full width. To these ends my inventionconsists in the novel manifolding attachment for ty ewriters which Ishall as hereinafter fully escribe by reference to the accompanyingdrawings, in which Fig. 1 is a front elevation of my manifoldingattachment as applied to a typewriter.

Fig. 2 is a plan view partly in horizontal section of the arm-operatingselective assembly, taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. 3, said View beingfrom the rear of the attachment at the right; hand of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3'is a part sectional view of the same on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is an elevation of the rotatable arm-operating selective membershowing'its independently operatable pawl missing the so shorter lug 15of the second arm 15 and engaging the longer lug 12 of the first arm 12.

Fig. 5 is a perspective view, enlarged, pf

the arm-operating selective member and its independently operatablepawl.

Fi 6 is a perspective view, enlarged, of the rst arm 12 with its axissleeve and its long lug.

Fig. 7 is a perspective view, enlarged, of the second arm 15 with itsaxis rod and its short lug.

Fig. 8 is a section on the line 89 of Fig. 4, in the direction of thearrow, showing normal upright position of the arms.

Fig. 9 is av section on the same line 89 of Fig. 4, but showing thefirst arm moved down.

Fig. 10 is a detail elevation of the armoperating selective member,similar to Fig. 4, but showing the parts in normal position prior tomovement. I

Fig. 11 is a plan view of the arm-operating selective assembly, showingits bracket mounting on the back bar 2' of the machine.

Fig. 12 is a right hand end view enlarged of my attachment, the turningknobs being omitted.

Fig. 13 is a rear elevation of the armoperating assembly and itsmounting.

Fig. 14 is a section on the line let-44 of Fig. 11.

Fig. 15 is a section on the line 15-15 of Fig. 11.

Fig. 16 is aleft-hand end view, enlarged, of} my attachment on the line1616' of Fig. 1

Fig. 17 is a plan view of the left hand end. Fig 18 is a detail showingthe sequence of the ribbons with respect to the platen and the recordpaper sheets. W i Fig. 19 is a view of a means for adjustingautomatically the paper-fingers.

1 is a portion of the frame of a typewriter, 2 is the platen-carriage, 3is the platen, the shaft 4 of which carrles the turning knob 5. e5 6 isthe index pointer, 7 is the main inking ribbon, 8 are the paper-fingersat the front of the platen near each end, and 9 in F i 12 is the paperguide apron. These or similar elements are all parts of a ty icaltypewriter and are suflicient for a all understanding of my intention.10 in Figs. 12, 13, and 16, are brackets having angularly directed'feet10 by which they are secured to a back bar 2 on the platen carriage 2.me There are 2 brackets 10, one at either end of the laten carriage,said brackets rising back of the laten and pa er ide a ron, Figs. 12 and16. In the rac ets an extending between them is rotatably mounted in iscarried a manifolding member 16 here ing their shown as a shortsectionof ribbon Figs. 1 and 18. -Upon the rod 11 is rotatably mounted a sleeve1 1 which has fixed to it near each end an arm 12, between theextremities of which is carried a second manifoldin member or ribbon 13,Figs. 1 and 18. Tie adjacent arms 12 and 15 of each pair lie in nestedrelation for a portion of" their length, as seen in Figs. 12 and 16, thearms 12 being the innermost.

[he arm 12 at the right hand, viewed from the front of the machine hasnear the front of its base a laterally projecting lug 12, Fig. 6, andthe corresponding arm 15 has at its base near its front a laterallyprojecting lug 15', Fig. 7. The lug 15' lies back of and is. shorterthan the lug 12 the two lugs lying in a circular path having the rod 11for a center. It will now be seen that if pressure from behind bebrought tobear upon the in 12 the pair of arms 12 will be turned withtheir sleeve 14 about the rod 11 as an axis, from an elevated positionback of and above the platen as seen by the dotted lines in Fig. 12 to adepressed position down to and curving over the platen, as shown by thefull lines in said Fig. 12, thereby carrymanifolding member 13 down tofunctional position. in front of the platen in the line of type-impact,between the record paper sheets 43 as in'Fig. 18. Ifthen pressure frombehind be exerted upon the lug 15, the pair of arms 15 with theirmanifoldingmember 16, Fig. 18, will be similarly operated turning withtheir rod 11 as an axis, said operations being those common tomanifoldingattachments of this type. And it will also be seen that if,when said arms are in depressed position. pressure be brought upon thefront of the lug 12, tending to lift the arms 12, both sets of arms 12and 15 will be raised to elevated position, since the'arms 12 underliethe arms 15.

Referring now particularly to Fig. 2, there is mounted rotatably aboutthe projecting end of the rod 11 and within the bearing of the righthand bracket 10 a short sleeve 17 having a turning knob 18 upon its end.Upon this sleeve 17 is slotted and pingnided at 19 an arm-operatingmember 20,

adapted for turning movement with and reciprocative linear movement onsaid sleeve, th latter movement being controlled by a spring 21 tendingto hold said member projected towards the ribbon carrying arms 12 and15, as seen in Figs. 2 and 3. In a longitudinal slotin the inner end ofthe arm-operating member is slidablymounted a pawl 22 the point of whichprojects into the circular path in which the arm lugs 12' and 15 lieandmove, of the arm-operating member 20 is formed,

Fig. 2. The operative end forward of the awl 22, with a cam incline 20and this inc ine lies in the path of the spring 21, the arm-operatingmember 20 is held forward with its cam incline 20 in the path of thelonger lug 12 and its slidable pawl 22 in the path of the shorter lug15' as seen in Figs. 2 and 10. When the short sleeve 17 is turnedforward by its knob 18,

the member 20 turns with it. But when the cam incline 20 of said memberreaches and contacts with the longer lug 12 said member 20 is therebylinearly forced back, and it carries the pawl 22, which it should bestated is seated with sufficient friction, back with it, so that thepoint of the pawl misses the short lug. 15', and then engages and picksup the long lug 12 as seen in'Fig. 4; and further rotative movement thencarries the first pair of arms 12 down, as heretofore described. SeeFig. 9. A reverse turning of the knob 18 then carries the member 20 andits pawl 22 back and said member, under the influence of the spring 21,moves forwardly, the pawl 22 slipping by and engaging behind the shortlug 15. Forward turning of the knob 18 now causes the pawl by contactwith said short lug 15" to carry down the second pair of arms 15, themember 20 remaining projected since it is free at first, of the coactionof its cam incline 20 and the depressed'long lug 12. But towards the endof this second stroke of the member 20 and before the second pair ofarms 15 are fully down, the cam incline 20' of said memher reaches thedepressed long lug 12 so that said member begins to move back whichwould normally have the efi'ect of carrying the pawl 22 back with itaway from the short limit. To avoid this is the purpose of theseparately controllable pawl 22, the further control features of whichare as follows.

Rotatably mounted about the arm-operating member 20 is an outer bearing23 in which is made an arcuate guide slot 23' the outer wall of whichnear its lower end is inclined at 23" towards the inner wall. See Figs.4 and 10. The pawl 22 is provided with a stud 22' which plays in thisslot 23' both circularly and linearly. Its normal play is against theinner wall of the slot as in Fig. 10, while its linear play is betweenthe inner and outer walls of said slot. The general width of the slot issuch as to provide for the backward movement of the member 20 under thecontact of its cam-incline 20' with the long lug 12', but when the stud22 of the pawl 22 reaches the incline 23" of the outer wall of the guideslot 23' the pawl is stopped from moving back with the member 20 whichat the time is thus moving, its cam incline 20 now being in contact withand acted upon by the previously depressed long lug 12. The pawl 22there fore does not withdraw from its contact with theshort ing butcontinues to engage it and to depress it to its limit, so that thesecond pair of arms 15 can be fully depressed. Q

In order to more fully understand the reason for and the function of theseparately controllable pawl 22'of the present arm-operating selectivemember and to point out clearly the novelty herein which novelty restsin said pawl, it may be of advantage to refer to my previous Patent No.1,452,193,

dated April 17, 1923, which discloses an arm-operating selectivemechanism similar in general to the present'mechanism, in that theprevious device comprises a linearly movable arm-operating memberrotatable in the axis of movement of the arms, and r0- vided with apick-up shoulder adapt Itlo en s selectively enga e lugs of different Iupon the arms,

e selection being contro led by cam lnclines on said member. In thatdevice, however, the pick-up shoulder is integral with saidarm-operating member, and, therefore, when, upon the second stroke, saidmember is incidentally forced back near the limit of the stroke thepickup shoulder tends to withdraw from the shorter arm-lug it is thenengaging, with the result. that the second pair of arms do not quitereach their limit of de ression. It will now be seen that this di cultyis, by the present invention, overcome, "due to the separatelycontrollable pawl 22 carried by the arm-operating member 20.

To return the arms to'elevated position the member 20 is formed with ashoulder 24, Fig. 5, which rises up under the longer lug 12' of the arm12.

The outer bearing 23, heretofore referred to is extended at 25, Figs. 2and 11,. for three purposes. One pu e 1s to provide a longer journalbearing or the ends of the axis members 11 and 14 of the arms 15 and 12,to counteract the torsional strain upon them due to the off-centercontact pressure of the pawl '22 on the arm lugs 12' and 15. Anotherpurpose is to carry the yielding locking springs 26 and 27, the formerhearing upon flattened places 28 which are 45 d apart, on the rod 11Fig. 15 and the latter bearing upon flattened places 29 on the sleeve14, Fig. 14, so that the arms 12 and 15 are yieldably held or locked attheir limits of movement. A third purpose is to carry the lever 30,Figs. 2, 11 and 12, for adjusting the manifolding r bbons widthwise whenin functional position, at each type impact.

line spacing movement of the platen, so that I i said ribbons may beutilized over practically their entire width, thereby prolonging theirlife. The lever 30 is secured at one end to the rocking outer bearing 23and at its other end it is yoked upon a cam 31, Fig. 12 on the platenshaft 4. When the ribbon carrying arms are depressed to functional posirtion, the lockin s rings 26 and 27 being in engagement with t eflattened places 28 and 29 on the axis members 11 and 14 of said arms,frictionally connect-the outer bearing 23 with said members. Then whenthe platen'is rotated, its shaft cam 31 rocks the lever 30 together withthe outer bearing 23; and thus through the springs 26 and 27 which saidbearing carries, the axis members 11 and 14 are rocked, which. movementwill oscillate the ribbon carrying arms and the ribbons transversely ofthe, platen. The paper fingers 8 in front of the platen, near each endare as usual yieldably held close to the platen and are slidable todifferent positions along the length of the platen. On account of theirnecessary closeness to the platen, it is obvious that some means mustbeprovided to temporarily move them away fromthe folding ribbons 13 and 16to freely pass in between them and the platen, in descendin to theirfunctional position in the line 0 Accordingly I have substi- 'tuted forthe usual fixed bar or rod which carries these paper fingers 8 a-rockingbar 32, Figs. 16 and 17, held under rotative tenlaten, in order to allowthe manision by a spring 33 at one end. The a er fingers are slidablymounted upon this r and rock with it. One end of the bar 32- has a crank34, and against this bears a pivoted fingerlever 35, by the eperationiof which, the bar 32 may easily be rocked to carry the paper fingers 8outwardly away from the platen, as shown by the dotted lines in Fig. 16,while the manifolding ribbons are descending to place. Thereupon thelever 35 being released the bar 32 will rock back, under the infiuenceof its spring 33, and carry the pa er-fingers back to functionalposition. A though this opening of the paper fingers may be performed bymanual operation of the finger-lever 35, it may, if found desirable, beefiected automatically throughthe movement of the ribn carrying armitself. I illustrate such automatic operation in Fig. 19 wherein theupper end of the lever 35 is connected by a lin 36 with one of theribbon arms 15. The connection of the link and lever is by means of astud 37 on the link, playing in an elongated slot 38 in the head of thelever, sald slot having an initial socket 39 in which the stud normallybears. It will be seen that as the arm .15 moves forward, the stud 37bearing on the socket 339 will throw the lever 35 forward and thus rockthe paper-finger bar 32. Then when the arm 15 is depressed to its limitand remains there, the link 36 may be manually moved to releasetheengagement of the stud 37 and socket 39, whereupon the lever may travelback with its head slot 38 playing over the stud,- thus allowing the arm15 to remain depressed While the paper-finger bar 32 rocks back.

In Figs. 1 and 16, are shown the usual ratchet mechanism for turning theplaten, comprising the lever 40, the pawl 41 and the ratchet 42.

I claim:v v y 1. A m'anifolding attachment for typewriters comprising arotatable member mounted on the machine: a plurality of 1ndependentlymovable pairs of spaced arms; a manifolding member carried by each pairof arms and adapted by the movement of said arms to be placed in andremoved from functional position in the line of type impact; anarm-operating member fitte upon said rotatable member forrotationtherewith and for linear movement thereon;

means for controlling the linear movement of said arm-operating member;and coacting devices on said arm-operating member and I said arms forindependently selectively moving each pair of arms about their pivotalcenters by the rotation of the rotatable member, consisting of lugs ofgraduated length on the arms, an independently controllable pawl carriedby said arm-operating member,

and a cam on said member to selectively" determine the contact of saidpawl with said length-graduated arm-lugs.

2. A manifolding attachment for typewriters comprising a rotatablemember mounted on the machine; a plurality of independently movablepairs of spaced arms; a manifolding member carried by each pair of armsand adapted by the movement of said arms to be placed in and removedfrom functional position in the line of ty e impact; an arm-operatingmember fitte upon said rotatable member for rotation therewith and forlinear movement thereon; means for controlling the linear movement 'ofsaid arm-operating member; and coacting devices on said arm-operatingmember and said arms for independently selectively moving each air ofarms about their pivotal centers by the rotation of the rotatablemember. consisting of lugs of graduated length on the arms, a pawlcarried bysaid arm-operating member for rotation there-- with andindependent linear movement thereon, means for controlling theindependent linear movement of the pawl to define its projection fromsaid arm-operating member, and acam on said arm-operating memberto'selectively determine the contact of said pawl with saidlength-graduated arm-lugs, U

writers having a platen, comprising a of arms and adapted by themovement of said arms to be placed in and removed from functionalposition in the line of type impact; an arm-operating member fitted uponsaidrotatable member for rotation there-- with and for linear movementthereon; means for controlling the linear movement of said arm-operatingmember; and coacting devices on said arm-operating member and said armsfor independently selectively moving each pair of arms about theirpivotal centers by the rotation of the rotatable member, consisting oflugs of graduated length on the arms, a pawl carried by saidarmoperating member for rotation therewith and independent linearmovement thereon, said pawl having a controlling stud, an outer bearingabout said arm-operating'member having a cam slot in which the stud ofpawl plays, to control the independent linear movement of the pawl, anda cam on said arm-operating member to selectively determine the contactof said pawl with said length-graduated arm-lugs.

4. A manifolding attachment for typerality' of independentlyjrotatablecon entric members each carrying a pair of spaced arms, a manifoldingmember carried by each pair of arms and ada ted by the rotation of theconcentric mem ers to be placed in and removed from functional positionin the line of type-impact; a sleeve independently rotatable about theaxis \Of said concentric members; an arm-operating member fitted uponsaid sleeve for rotation therewith and for linear movement thereon;means for controlling the linear movement of said arm-operating member;coacting devices on said arm operating memberand said arms forindependently selectively moving each pair of arms by the rotation ofsaid sleeve; an outer bearing independently rotatable about saidarm-operating member; means carried by said outer bearing andactingmanifolding member carried by said arms.

and adapted by their movement to be placed in and removed from[functional position in the line of type-impact; paper-fingers assomatedwith the machine platen and lying in the path of the'manifolding member;and

means adapted to move said fingers to clear the pat-h of saidmanifolding member simultaneously with the movement of said member.

-6. A manifolding attachment for typewriters comprising a pair of spacedarms mounted for movement upon the machine; a manifolding member carriedby said arms and adapted by their movement to be placed in and removedfrom functional position in the line of type-impact; paper-fingersassociated with the machine platen and lying in the path of themanifolding member; a rocking bar carrying said fingers and adapted tomove them to and from the platen to clear the path of said manifoldingmember; and means dependent upon the movement of said arms for rockingsaid bar.

7. A manifolding attachment for type- Writers comprising a pair ofspaced arms mounted for movement upon the machine; a manifolding membercarried by said arms and adapted by their movement to be placed in andremoved from functional position in the line of type-impact;paper-fingers associated with the machine platen and lying in the pathof the manifoldin'g member; a rocking bar carrying said fingers andadapted to move them to and from the platen to clear the path of saidmanifolding member; and means, dependent upon the movement of said armsin carrying the manifolding member to functional position, for rockingsaid bar.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

MALCOLM L. COSSITT.

